


a certain state of survival

by LittleLiability



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Clay and Ranboo are brothers, Gen, Horror Elements, Implied Apocalypse, Made up creatures, Reincarnation, Sapnap makes a very brief appearance, Supernatural Elements, also implied karlnapity, bc they're fiances not bc i ship them, don't ship real people that's weird, everyone is younger ??, food description, no I'm not kidding, this came from a dream, time traveller karl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:40:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29740944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLiability/pseuds/LittleLiability
Summary: Sometimes what happens after a story is just as important as the actual story. After all, history repeats itself. And no matter how hard you try to erase the past, it still follows you.Karl goes hundreds of years into the future, only to find the world nearly empty. He meets two brothers who are so impossibly familiar to him, but the question is... where is everyone else and what happened to the word he once knew so well?
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Karl Jacobs, Clay | Dream & Karl Jacobs & Ranboo, Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs & Ranboo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 83





	a certain state of survival

**Author's Note:**

> so, a few warnings: it's implied that something very, very bad happened, it's also implied that Dream/Clay was the cause of it, and I also use Clay as Dream's name because he isn't yet Dream in this. There's also a description of food that two kids made so it might be kinda gross. That's another thing: this is three kids (6, 8, 10) running around a world on their own so if that's a trigger or something please please please be careful. there are also a few horror-like elects to this and definite supernatural elements

Ranboo crouches, watching with wide eyes as his tail slowly moves behind him. The fish swim slowly beneath him, almost like they’re being guided with invisible hands. He smiles excitedly, wishing he could just reach in and pull them out, but he knows the water will hurt him. He doesn’t know why, but he knows the water burns his skin. It doesn’t do that to his brother. A shout, behind him. He stands, turning around to see Clay moving towards him.

“Ranboo! Be careful!” he says, eyes wide and worried. “Where are your gloves?” Ranboo shows him the gloves attached to his belt, smiling brightly up at Clay. His boots are almost too big for him, but he knows they’re necessary, otherwise his feet would get burned from the morning dew and the almost-bogs they walk through. “Good, okay, put them on, we’re near another bog.”   
  


Ranboo nods, dutifully slipping them on and pulling the sleeves of his jacket down to cover his arms. The two set off, towards the almost-bog. Sunlight reflects off the water of the river, the one that probably feeds the almost-bog. Ranboo skips ahead a bit, laughing as he spins around to look at his older brother. Clay smiles a bit, then glances around. Their food supply is getting low and he doesn’t particularly want to go out of his way to make a trap. He can hear birds singing in the trees and other creatures making noise deep in the woods. He knows they won’t attack them, nothing has ever since they first ran, but it still sets him on edge.

“Clay, Clay, look!” Ranboo is jumping up and down, making sure not to splash water onto himself. Clay looks. And sees a boy, stumbling in confusion. He stops in shock, his body freezing up. It’s been so long since either of them have seen another living sentient creature. He glances at his brother, noting the excitement in his green and red eyes. He looks to the new boy and steps in front of Ranboo, pulling out the short sword he only ever uses to kill animals. Killing a person might not be so different.

“Who are you?” he shouts, doing his best to glare at the boy. The boy looks up, his eyes wide under fluffy brown hair. His hoodie is strange, teal with a purple spiral, a yellow sleeve, a purple sleeve. Clay narrows his eyes, lifting the sword.

“I-I’m Karl! Karl Jacobs! I, I don’t know where I am but, uh, please don’t kill me!” The boy flinches back, raising his hands to protect himself. Clay watches for a long moment before finally lowering the sword. His eyes and tone soften.

“Are you lost? Do you have anyone to take care of you?” he says, stepping forward. Karl shakes his head, peeking out. Ranboo is suddenly there, grabbing Karl’s hand and grinning up at him.

“Hi, I’m Ranboo! My big brother can take care of you for sure, he’s super good at looking out for us! Are you gonna be our brother too?” His words come out fast, tumbling over each other in his excitement. Clay suddenly remembers that he’s a hybrid, that he’s in danger from this stranger and lunges forward, hand outstretched. But Karl just smiles uncertainly at the black and white face peering up at him.

“I, um, maybe? If, if your brother’s okay with it,” he says, peeking up at Clay. Clay pauses, frowning. He crosses his arms.

“How old are you?”

Karl looks down at himself and seems to realize something, his face scrunching up. “I’m really small,” he mumbles, then, “I think I’m eight.” Ranboo bounces excitedly. “Why, how old are you?”

Clay pauses, doing the math. If it’s been four winters since he and Ranboo ran, then… “I’m ten. Ranboo is six.” He raises an eyebrow when Karl’s eyes widen in surprise and fear.

“Isn’t it dangerous out here? Why are you guys alone?” He looks around, like he’s looking for someone. Clay frowns and takes Ranboo’s hand. He shrugs a bit.

“We’ve been alone for a while,” he says, moving past Karl. “Now come on, we have to get somewhere for the night.” He knows what happens at night, even Ranboo has heard it, but this kid will surely get hurt or even more lost if he stays out here. He glances back to see Karl following and relaxes a little, relieved. Sure, he’ll have to figure out an extra sleeping situation for Karl, but it should be fine. If he can’t find an extra sleeping bag, he can just sleep with Ranboo on one of theirs and let Karl take the other. He slowly lets go of Ranboo’s hand and watches as he runs off, still staying in sight.

“What happened here?” Karl says, catching up to Clay. Clay glances down at him in confusion. “Where are all the… people? Or, or monsters? Dangers?”

Clay can’t help but giggle. “Monsters don’t exist. The most dangerous things happen at night and if you’re in a building, then you’re safe. But… the people…” He hesitates, scanning the almost-bog. “Well, I don’t really know. I know that some were… killed… and others, I’m sure died of natural causes and whatever happens at night, but… the majority of them? I have no idea what happened to them.” He looks at Karl, knowing his green eyes are glowing slightly now. “But whoever, whatever remains… changes.”

Karl steps back, startled. He watches as Clay turns and continues walking, smiling at how Ranboo is kneeling near a puddle. “Clay, Karl, come see, come see!” Karl slowly starts forward, crouching down and peering into the puddle with Ranboo. He can’t help a soft, startled gasp.

“What are these?” he whispers, staring at them. Ranboo slowly lifts one of the creatures out, giggling. It’s a frog, peering out from a turtle shell. Its webbed feet stretch out across the leather gloves on Ranboo’s hands. All of its legs look far more like a turtle’s, but longer with webbed feet. It croaks.

“A turtlefrog! Isn’t he cute?” Ranboo looks up, offering one of the small creatures to Karl. Karl carefully takes it, marvelling at how small it is. He grins, looking up at Clay. Clay shakes his head and laughs, smiling. “I wanna keep one as a pet. Clay, Clay, can I keep one? Please?”   
  


Clay shakes his head, adjusting the small bag on his back. “No. It has to be wet, remember?” He smiles gently at him. Ranboo pouts for a moment but puts the turtlefrog back. Karl does the same and they stand, Ranboo shaking off his gloves. Karl wipes his hands on his jeans and Clay looks at the sky, squinting a little.

“Are you lookin’ at the time?” Ranboo says, jumping onto a fallen tree. His arms fly out and he wobbles for a moment, trying to keep his balance. Clay steadies him and nods. “How much time until sunset?” The small boy’s voice is surprisingly serious for once.

“About three or four hours. We need to move fast to find a place to sleep for the night,” he says. A chill races up Karl’s spine and settles between his shoulder blades, like an old, familiar hand guiding him. He shivers and the two brothers look over at him. “What was that?”

“I, I just got really cold,” Karl says, suddenly very worried. The brothers exchange a glance, then start walking silently. Ranboo’s hand slips into Clay’s, tightening his hold. Karl follows them quickly, pushing his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. He glances back and, in a ray of sunlight, is a man staring back with a bandana wrapped around his head. Karl’s heart stops for just a moment at the incredibly sad look on the familiar man’s face. Slowly he fades, leaving the almost-bog empty.

Karl hurries to stay next to the brothers. Silence hangs over their tiny group as they leave the almost-bog behind and move into a wide open field. Far off, at the end, is an old, dilapidated building. There’s a faded painting of a sun on the side of the building, with figures that look to be children playing underneath. A daycare. Karl glances up as Ranboo starts humming again, skipping now. He’s no longer holding Clay’s hand, so he lets himself relax.

Ranboo spins through the field, laughing brightly, wildly. He looks so incredibly alive and Karl can’t help but grin and join in the spinning. Soon enough, Clay is too, and he’s laughing with them. The three collapse in a heap in the middle of the field, giggling and gasping for breath. Ranboo gasps, a wordless exclamation saying,  _ “look, look!”  _ And Karl looks.

Around them, butterflies swirl upwards like a tornado. Their wings shimmer and catch the light, thousands of colors blending and bleeding together, reflecting down onto the three children. Karl slowly stands, reaching a hand out in awe and watching as one lands on his finger. Its wings are a brilliant blue, white lines running through the blue like lightning arcing through a midnight sky. A splash of red is on its right wing, like a jagged scar. It rests for a minute before flying back up and away, back into the cloud. It feels like a lifetime before they settle, disappearing back into the grasses and flowers of the field.

The three stay there for a few moments before Clay breaks the awed silence. “Okay, we’re almost there. We set up for the night and maybe we can stay here for a few days, gather together some food, then move on,” he says, looking at the other two. Ranboo nods and smiles.

“Why are we on the move? Can’t you just… find a place and stay there?” Karl says, tilting his head. Clay shakes his head, almost like that’s the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

“No way. That’s where the past went wrong,” he says confidently, starting towards the building in the distance. “Don’t get attached to places, you’ll always have to leave them. Choose people.” He flashes a smile at Karl and Ranboo nods sagely, closing his eyes.

“‘People are what really matter in this world. Hold onto your family and you can do anything,’” he says, clearly reciting something. He opens his eyes and grins up at Karl. “You’re our family now! So we gotta stick together.”

Karl nods, still trying to pull air back into his lungs. That statement still echoes true, and he knows, somehow, deep down, that these are the same people he knew back in his own time. He doesn’t know how, or why, but he knows that this Ranboo is the same one he’s seen wandering the ruins of L’Manberg. He has a feeling he knows who Clay is, but he isn’t sure he wants to be right. So he just summons a weak smile and whispers, “Yeah. We gotta stick together.”

Clay smiles at him as they skid down a gentle slope, into the old playground of the daycare. Swings creak, hanging by one chain. Skeletal bars of a metal dome are rusting, some having broken a long time ago. A metal slide is twisted and warped, still somehow shining and clear of rust. Clay goes up to the door of the daycare and tries the handle. Unsurprisingly, it opens and he leads the way inside. The floor is covered in dirt and glass, the walls smeared with something that’s brown, almost black. Karl has a disturbing feeling that he knows what it is.

Clay opens cabinets, checks rooms, pokes around. The rooms are in a general state of disarray and there’s mold growing in the corners, but otherwise the place seems safe and stable enough. Clay marks out a place for them to sleep and nods a bit. “Okay, Ranboo, Karl, go find some wood. Ranboo, pick some berries, you should also be able to find some sort of potatoes or carrots. You remember what they look like, right?” He glances up.

Ranboo nods, saluting a little as a joke. He turns and runs back outside, pulling Karl with him. The two scramble up the small hill and at the top Ranboo throws his arms out, laughing as the wind blows his hair up. Karl smiles, looking out across the field in awe. The sun is slowly starting to set, the sky a brilliant pink and yellow and purple, swirling and smearing across the clouds. Birds soar high above, dark specks against the brilliant sun and sky. The river nearby reflects a distorted version of the sky, the clouds and colors rippling with the current.

“This is freedom, this is what it means to be alive and to live!” Ranboo says, eyes wide and wild and his smile brighter than any sun or star. He looks up at Karl. “At least, that’s what Clay says. He says that life can only be measured by how much you love it.” He starts out into the field. “C’mon, let’s find berries and wood!”

Karl follows him, crouching when Ranboo does. They do find berries, dozens of them, in all colors of the rainbow. They stain their hands and when Karl asks if they’re dangerous, Ranboo laughs. “No! The worst they’ll do is make your tummy hurt,” he says, giggling. He fills his shirt with countless berries and Karl tries one that’s bright yellow. It bursts in his mouth, tasting like lemongrass and cherries and he pauses in surprise and confusion. Ranboo laughs at the surprise.

“What is this?” Karl whispers, looking up at Ranboo. The younger boy shrugs, gathering more berries.

“I dunno, berries are just. Like that,” he says. He glances up. “Can you grab some wood? Clay said we needed that too.”

Karl nods, standing. He runs off, ignoring the confusion in his brain. He doesn’t know what happened here, or how, or why, all he knows is that he’s here now and he needs to help these two. He gathers sticks and smaller pieces of logs as he thinks. Somehow, he was turned into a kid when he time traveled. If he was an adult, the two kids wouldn’t have trusted him enough to welcome him into their little… family. So it was necessary for the inbetween or some other power to make him a kid. He shakes his head a little, turning back towards the daycare. He just needs to get back and it’ll be okay.

When he does get back to their temporary home, there are three sleeping bags laid out in a triangle form. In the middle is a ring of stones, a distinctly damaged pot, and a flint and steel. He drops the wood next to it and Clay looks up from a shirt he’s sewing. The older boy grins and moves his current project off to the side, scooting forward to build the fire. Karl settles on a sleeping bag and watches with wide eyes. The sun is almost set, almost gone, when the fire lights.

“Yes! Good, cool, we have a fire for tonight.” Clay smiles, pulling the shirt back into his lap. Karl giggles.

“What are you makin’?”

Clay looks down at the shirt, running a hand over it. After a moment of deliberation, he raises it to show Karl. The shirt is deep green with a hood and Karl can see small pockets sewn into the chest, sides, and even sleeves. “It’s a shirt for when I go scavenging on my own. This way, I don’t gotta carry a bag and I’ll be able to move faster.” He grins at Karl excitedly.

Karl nods in understanding, looking back at the fire. “What’s for dinner?”   
  


A small, black hand pushes a cup towards him. “Clay and I figured out a way to make these sorta hot jams. They’re really good and you can make em outta anything!” Ranboo grins at Karl, his teeth a slightly disturbing shade of red. 

Karl hesitates before nodding slightly, picking up the cup. It smells sweet and warm and he can’t help but think of a time so far removed from his present, when he was sitting in a kitchen and watching a man in a beanie move around singing and a man with a headband sat next to him. He closes his eyes, tips the cup back. It’s sweet, sour, almost like lemon and raspberries and cherries mixed into a soup together. There’s something else, something solid with it that almost makes him spit it back out, but he doesn’t. He instead looks at Clay in confusion, looking for an explanation. Clay blinks, then laughs.

“Oh, sorry! I caught a rabbit earlier. Sometimes, to fill it more, I cut up some pieces and throw it in. It works out, keeps us full and warm.” He shrugs, going back to his shirt. 

Karl looks down, into the cup, and stares silently at the red jello-jam mess with chunks of rabbit meat. How these two have survived so long, he has no idea, but he also doesn’t know whether to be disgusted or admiring of the food they’ve evidently invented. Secretly, he wonders if the meat is the reason their stomachs hurt and not the berries. He swallows and in a moment of bravery decides to finish what’s left.

By now, the sun has disappeared and the moon hangs low over the horizon. Strange sounds come from outside and Clay stands, locking the door. Karl isn’t sure how that’s supposed to help, but he pulls his knees close and watches as Clay pulls out a large container with the word “salt” on it. He goes around their little triangle, carefully pouring it in a circle, before sitting back on his sleeping bag and putting the container away. Ranboo pulls off his boots and gloves, setting them neatly by his sleeping bag, near the fire.

“What’s going on?” Karl says. Clay looks at him as he’s untying his shoes.

“Oh, we’re going to bed. If you sleep with your shoes on, you might not wake up here.” Clay places his shoes next to his sleeping bag and lays down.

“Oh… well, uh. What, what if you need to go to the bathroom?”

Clay looks at him with a very serious expression. “You do not leave this circle,” he says. “No one will ever see you again if you leave this circle.”

Karl pauses, his eyes wide, then nods uncertainly. “Oh, uh, okay.” He slowly pulls off his own shoes and curls up inside his sleeping bag, doing his best to ignore the dread that coils in his stomach. He pulls the hood of his hoodie up and closes his eyes, hoping to fall asleep soon.

Somehow, he does fall asleep. Hours later, he slowly opens his eyes to the dying embers of the fire. He rolls over, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Something else is happening, but he can’t tell exactly what woke him up. He looks out the window sleepily, his mind not quite registering what he sees until it shifts, the bone white of its mask catching the moonlight. He chokes on a gasp, a scream, and finally he feels it. A hum, echoing softly all around, shaking the building. It’s not enough to wake the other two, but the mask stares down at Karl.

Then he hears it. It comes from everywhere and nowhere, it echoes and bounces, it’s a rush of noise and yet it is so impossibly quiet.  _ “If you stay much longer, time traveler, this world will swallow you whole and feast upon your bones.” _

_ What…? _

He can feel the creature smile. Terror crawls into his throat and settles there as he croaks out, “What are you?”

A hand touches the window, the claws on the ends of its fingers gently tapping against the glass. Its head bends closer, two giant antlers curling gracefully up, two holes cut carefully in the hood of its cape to allow them to. The mask is so painfully familiar, but Karl instinctively knows it never belonged to Dream, was never on his face.  _ “Something far more ancient than even you can imagine, Karl Jacobs. Something far more powerful than any you’ve ever known. I know everything, time traveler. Ask your questions. I will be gone by morning.” _

Karl hesitates, staring up at the creature. Finally, he whispers, “What happened here?”

The creature tilts its head, flexing its hand for a moment.  _ “Your world as you knew it was in danger, almost consumed, and then he came from the prison. The tyrant god. He ruled with an iron fist, enforcing his rules. Slowly, the tales of how he rose to power faded into obscurity. His kingdom, his empire expanded. He was unstoppable. But you and I both know that even gods can be killed if you find one just as timeless.” _ He watches, almost in horror, as the mask is slowly lifted to show a smile, far wider than any normal human’s, with teeth sharper than any animal in this world.  _ “A man descended, from the tyrant god’s past. He wore two rings, a white bandana around his arm, and a beanie from his long lost lovers. He killed the tyrant god and disappeared, never to be seen in this world again.” _

Karl feels sick, almost, knowing what the creature means. He shudders and the hum pitches upwards a bit, almost like the creature is laughing. He closes his eyes, knowing the creature will continue the story.

_ “The world was peaceful for a long time. Then something changed and people became violent, fighting over resources, hurting those around them. And the  _ originals _ were reborn. Their souls were so used to the violence that they were only able to return in a time that mirrored their own. And the tyrant god was reborn, his powers laying dormant… until his family was threatened. A godling can’t really control their powers at a young age, you know. His anger wiped out the majority of the world. That’s why the world is like this.” _ It almost seems to laugh again. It tapped twice on the glass.  _ “You can go south from here if you want. You’ll recognize it, God Slayer.” _

Time seems to warp. The smile on the mask twists, glitches, flashes. Claws reach for him, but burst into flames, angry howls spinning outwards around him. A flash of pearly white, a smile, lime green, red vines growing. And suddenly Karl is waking up to soft sunlight on his face and Ranboo laughing at something, Clay gently nudging him to quiet down. Karl stares up at the ceiling, then turns his head to look at the window. Carved into the glass is a smiley face.

A chill runs down his spine.

**Author's Note:**

> may or may not continue this, idk so for now i'm gonna mark it as complete and if I have motivation or ideas i'll add more


End file.
